Several prior art orthotic braces feature front and rear panels to provide lumbar support to the patient.
For instance, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,478,759 and 5,967,998, hereby incorporated herein by reference, a single front support panel is attached to one or more rear panels to provide lumbar support to the patient upon closure. Devices of this type provide better support in comparison to belt-type devices. These devices may feature a reinforcement insert, typically of relatively rigid plastic, inserted into a soft material rear portion which in turn is connected to a front portion by straps.
Other braces of the prior art include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,327 having a number of straps for connecting right and left sections with the straps secured to the jacket with hook-and-loop strips. U.S. Pat. No. 4,508,110 describes a jacket-type orthoses that limits motion in the thoracic or lumbo-sacral areas and uses a rigid orthoses design that may be adjusted by a patient pulling on a plurality of laces, each attached to a short strap having hook-and-loop material thereon which is used to attach the straps to predetermined positions on the rigid brace members. Other prior art U.S. patents for orthoses include U.S. Pat. No. 4,475,543, for a lumbo-sacral brace using an elastic belt fastened with a pouch in combination with a semi-wrap-around polyurethane foam splint cured in place in the pouch; U.S. Pat. No. 2,100,964, describing a surgical belt is illustrated in which a plurality of laces are interconnected to a single strap on either side thereof; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,183, disclosing a dorsal lumbo sacral support combines elastic and non-elastic straps in a support device for a person's back, thoracic or pelvic areas.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,927,665 relates to a lumbo-sacral support having an elastic body encircling band and inelastic tensioning system, while U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,288 illustrates a soft body brace attached to a patient with a plurality of straps to provide a back support system with interchangeable and positionally adjustable orthotic support.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,175,553 is also a lumbo-sacral orthosis orthopedic support for encircling the torso and has a plurality of straps, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,979 is an orthopedic appliance made of resilient material conforming to the lower back of a person and uses a plurality of adjustable straps.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,304 discloses a thoracic lumbar sacral orthosis device formed as a jacket and has support plates which can attach thereto, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,585 concerns a lumbo-sacral orthopedic support which encircles the torso of a patient and has adjustable strap portions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,933 describes an orthopedic lumbo-sacral corset using semi-rigid elements and inflatable pads.
The aforementioned patents are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
One of the problems with orthotic braces of the prior art is that they cannot be used as both a smaller lumbosacral belt (“LSB”) type orthotic brace and as a relatively larger lumbosacral orthotic (“LSO”) type brace.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an orthotic device that allows for the relatively convenient conversion between a smaller LSB type orthotic brace and as a relatively larger LSO type brace.
In addition, it is also desirable to provide an LSB-LSO convertible type orthotic brace with an improved supplementary sternal support for the upper thoracic area. Such supports of the prior art are designed with a ventral support rod extending from the frontal portion of the belt. This is relatively stiff and unyielding, and can feel confining for the wearer.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide effective supplementary sternal support without relying upon a support that extends from the wearers front while providing equivalent supplementary sternal support.
In addition, it is normally inconvenient for wearers to be able to don and remove such a supplementary sternal support without disrupting the custom fitting of its attachment to the wearer. Thus, in this regard, it is also beneficial to provide such a supplementary sternal support that may be readily donned and removed by the wearer without the need to reposition the fitments that position the supplementary sternal support.
Accordingly, in light of the aforementioned shortcomings of currently available orthotic braces, there is a need for a convertible lumbar orthosis which can be adjusted on the patient so as to provide optional LSB- or LSO-type support while conforming to the back of a patient to provide a more customized fit.
In addition, there remains a need for LSO-type devices that permit the optional use of a supplementary sternal support without sacrificing comfort and ease of donning and removal while maintaining its customized fitting and support settings, such as by having to rearrange the straps of the brace.